TOPIC: First Real Groove 91 Jeep Cherokee

Hey Gadgetfolks, here are pics of my first "real" Groove. This is for a neighbor buddy and his '91 Jeep Cherokee with the Jeep inline-6. It's 4wd, auto, has A/C and headers/custom exhaust. Sadly it need a trans (reverse is out) but now it's gonna be Grooved. He picked 2 throttle bodies from Jeeps like his at the boneyard, so I got to practice on the rough one and completed the good one. As you see it has a big IAC slot just below the throttle plate and the Groove. Thanks to Ron and all you people I figured how to make bypass channels for IAC air. Using the rough one of these two and and 2 other bad carb. bases I gained confidence in Groovin'. So I'm ready for any input about what you all see here, personally i'm quite happy w/ the results! I used a business card between throttle plate and bore wall to be able to fill in the big rectangular hole w/ JB Quick mixed w/ aluminum shavings. I had already cut the air troughs from the IAC passage around to the throttle shaft area w/ a small Dremel burr and cut back into the corners of the IAC passage at an angle. I began filling the IAC passage w/ the epoxy/alum. mix up against the business card, then pushed a pop rivet into the corners where I had cut a round notch. I filled in all around the pop rivets, waited maybe ten min. then pulled out the rivets and the card as mix was hardening. OOPS! too soon on the card, or too late, some mix came away w/ the card! So I quickly mixed up more epoxy and over-filled the already filled in area. This mix w/o alum. powder is why there is a little square area in the filled in bore wall "notch" that stands out its the JB/alum mix peeking thru. Let it stand 90 min. then took it to bench and sanded down the JB in the bore flush w/ bore wall then dressed the base w/ a fine wide file, then drilled out holes on the previously cut back corners of IAC passage to connect the IAC passage w/ the troughs around the bore. A bit involved but a great learning experience!! The first pic shows the 2 TB side by side, you can see where large bit broke thru first practice one so I buried these spots on the second TB w/ JBQuick! TracyG

Nice job Tracy

For future... you can use cellophane or a piece of transparency sheet backed up by the card and/or a piece of metal flashing. Either of these will allow you to let it dry hard and pull away clean.


Karl Fortner
Tacoma, Wa.

Interesting work you have done! (good pictures)

I thought I would offer a couple of suggestions but first...a question.

does that Jeep TB have a idle set screw? (I couldn't tell from the pictures)

Hi Dave, yup it does have an idle set screw, look at second from last pic at upper left corner of TB base its a little allen set screw flush w/ the base tracyG

Karl Thank you Sir!! Tracy G

Cool. (just like my car)

In that case I got a tip to save you some work next time I think.

On my car I totally blocked off the IAC valve and then used the throttle stop screw to open the throttle plate to my desired idle RPM. then did my vacuum work set the idle again and then cut the groove last.

Consequently, I did not have to cut those long grooves that you did in order to give my car the air it needed to idle properly.

If you open the throttle plate a bit you can get all the air you nedd without cuttin' those "air passage" grooves.

another alternative would be to dill a small hole (or two) in the throttle plate to get the air you need.

I'm guessing you haven't installed it in the car yet and I betcha you are gonna need a little bit more air for idle than the setup you got now.

Although I was thinking about making my IAC valve partially operable for cold weather (like you did) I still think it is best to run all of the air you car needs for idle through (under) the throttle plate so that you get the most air possible running over the groove.

In a nutshell...completely blocking the IAC port and using the throttle stop screw for air is easiest I think.

(rock on) ...love Dave

Mea Stupida..LOL!! Hey Gadgetfolks, I had to laugh. This Jeep TB was handed to me by my neighbor buddy who got it at Pick n Pull. So I modded it, as seen in the previous pics. Just one problem; I didn't see that the manifold bore/gasket bore hole is larger than the TB bore. We pulled his orig. TB off and I found out. I laid the original gasket on the Grooved TB and marked the bore w/ a blue Sharpie. I had to fill in the IAC bypass grooves I had cut, then cut new slightly larger ones as per Dave (carby-tater's) advice for more air. The old IAC grooves just happened to line up inside the gasket bore... So I ended up spending WAAY more time w/ entire IAC mod to this TB than doing the Groove. But I learned from it. The gasket now will seal these IAC grooves. The new IAC grooves got very close to round cutouts in TB base so I added JB Quick to partly fill in these cutouts and improve gasket contact area- they are visible just outboard of where the IAC grooves enter throttle bore. I also learned that after JBQuick is applied and has set a few minutes (it is cold in my shed tonite) it becomes plastic and can be molded/shaped/shaved w/a sharp blade easily. So if anyone is going to do the Groove to an early 90's Jeep Cherokee w/ the Jeep inline Six, take heed of my follies!! TracyG.

Hey Tracy, I have done 65 mods and I am still learning.

I think if we stop learning we need to be doing something else.

I love a challenge and I can see you do too.

Keep up the great work.

GadgetmanNebraska Aron Cheek

Hey Aron, yup learning is what life is about. BTW, I installed this TB on my neighbor's Cherokee yesterday and rerouted the PCV to the air cleaner breather hose w/ a tee. I got lucky, it idles and runs Great! Sharp throtle response right off idle and xclnt power through all engine RPM's! Luck in that I opened the throttle plate slightly w/ stop screw and this along w/ IAC grooves gives it a hot idle about 950-1000RPM, just where owner wants it. Vehicle is beater w/250 K mi. has a header, and Reverse gear out,needs ignition parts, unregistered, but we both drove around block. Did the computer relearn process w/many engine start/off and slow speed/off cycles. Neighbor gave me a ride several blocks away so I could pick up my car--he's a power nut so of course he got on it, it runs strong.Wont have any other data of Before mpg or other as vehicle sits till he fixes/registers it. He bought it for an off road toy. But now it is known what to do to this Jeep Cherokee TB. Hard to type, crosseyed from reading Carter AFB rod/jet #'s. I grooved the AFB off my dodge truck last nite, tonite took apart for cleaning/ rejetting gotta go buy new rods/jets tomorrow at Summit Racing. Going to try going from .098 main jets to .095's and different rods, but I'll post about that soon in new topic. thanks, Aron! Say Hi to Ron and Debbie for me when they arrive! TracyG

Instead of making a matching window cutout in the manifold, perhaps it was more of a manufacturing convenience to simply open up the entire manifold bore to compensate for the throttle body's idle air opening? Seems counter productive to have a mismatch. Regardless of the reason;

The question now is, would it hurt to create a custom gasket that actually 'fits' the throttle body?
That way it'd help seal up any potential leaks of the rerouted idle air, right?

Or do you think the gasket would have a tendency to break off into the manifold?

The gasket material is the only question. If I have any question at all about the gasket tearing in operation, I simply cut one out of aluminum flashing. If you don't have any (it's real cheap to buy) then you can use an aluminum can if you want to mess with it. Better to buy the flashing.

It's great experience, too!